Just For You
by RenaRoo
Summary: It's been many years, but Ruby never forgot. And she's hoping, with her present, that Penny hasn't either. RubyxPenny. Sapphic September: Present


I realized just recently that I related to Ruby so much because I, too, am robosexual. hence the Transformers addiction and so on. So here's to the fellow robosexuals of the world.

RWBY and related characters © Rooster Teeth  
story © RenaRoo

 **Just For You**

Ruby walked down the cold halls of Atlas' premiere institution and suddenly felt an overwhelming sense of why Weiss had made the choice of coming to Beacon all that time ago instead of staying true to her family's traditions. It was certainly a decision that wouldn't have been hard for Ruby herself to make under the same conditions.

But she was there for a reason, and she had more determination with each step she took behind the former stalwart soldier.

"It will be just a little bit further from here," Ironwood informed her, looking back just enough to meet Ruby's eyes and looking away again. "I'm sorry that it took us so long to track you down to tell you what progress had been made. It's my understanding that you two are incredibly close."

 _Are_ , Ruby thought on the word, on the sound of it in her own ears. It felt… so _right._ It felt so _good_ to think of someone in the present tense again after so long of thinking o so many in the _past_ tense.

She took a deep breath and rubbed at her neck. "Well, that's the difficulties of having a mobile lifestyle I guess! My dad's been trying to convince me to get a mailbox in one of the cities but… heh, it's hard enough to imagine me staying in the same district long enough to check it, let alone _cities."_ She realized a moment too late she was babbling and lowered her arm back down to her side.

Ironwood was still walking stiff as a rod. It reminded her of Weiss and Winter.

"Um, Mister Ironwood," Ruby spoke out. "Is it just like… an Atlas thing for everyone to be so stiff all the time? Not that you're stiff. I mean. Unless in Atlas that's a good thing. In which case cool. But. Um. Obviously I don't go north very often. Even when Weiss and I hunt together it's mostly in the south…"

"You can call me James, Ruby," he assured her without even breaking his stride. "I am a friend of your uncle, after all. And you're more than my equal by this point in your career."

Ruby looked to the side, pursing her lips. "You wouldn't think that of Uncle Qrow if you heard him talking about you…" she muttered, only all too late realizing it was still loud enough for Ironwood to glance back at her again. "Oh! Uh… Sorry. I mean. I'm sure you're actually friends and all! You run around with the same people and… shutting up."

"I'm not offended," he assured her. "The fact that he talks about me at all is proof to me. After all, have you ever heard him speak kindly about _anyone_ he considers a friend?"

"Me," Ruby answered, almost preening.

"Yes, well, you're special," Ironwood agreed, coming to a stop at a large, ominous looking metal door. "Well, this is the laboratory. You'll find Penelope."

Taken off guard, Ruby slowed to a stop and looked with wide, gray eyes toward the door of this supposed laboratory. She blinked a few times, feeling a rare wave of intimidation she hadn't felt since she was a child. She swallowed and then looked back to Ironwood, swallowing down her nervousness. "Really? Just… behind that door. Like that? I don't have… some weird trial I have to complete in order to… I don't know, earn the right? Swear allegiance to some military effort first? Anything like that? I just… walk in and there's a Penny?"

Ironwood's eyes belied some slight amusement at Ruby's expense. "There's no grand effort against you here that I'm aware of, Ruby. And you've more than earned any privilege Atlas or any other continent could afford you by this point."

Looking to the door again, Ruby couldn't help but hold her hands together, like some sort of whispered prayer.

There were _so many_ that she had lost in her life already. She was young, but in experience she was older than most seasoned Hunters. And as defeatist and against Ruby's disposition as it may have seemed, she had long ago gotten used to the sensation of not expecting others to come back after they were gone.

Then there was Penny… And there was what Ruby lost when she lost Penny too young.

Those questions of _what could have been_ , unlike waiting for someone coming back, was a sensation she had never really quite gotten over. Because she had only really experienced it the once.

"Also, just for clarification, it's _the_ Penny," Ironwood corrected her. "One of a kind."

"No one like her," Ruby agreed. She took a deep breath, closing her eyes, focusing on her calm and waiting… waiting for it to not be real. But the door was still there when she opened her eyes. And immediately, all the determination she had built up during the long walk down the hall came back in full. "Okay. Open it up, James!"

He blinked at her, confusion written all across his face. "It's… not locked… but… Okay," he said before awkwardly crossing to the other side of the door in front of Ruby and pulling the door open for her, as if it was some grand prize on the other side. Like she didn't know exactly what she was about to see.

Both things were not entire inaccurate.

Because the moment she saw the cropped red hair, the tall physique, those bright green eyes, those speckles of freckles on porcelain skin — the moment she took it all in, Ruby _hadn't_ been ready. Nothing could have prepared her for what it was like to see Penny again, to see Penny grown up. To see Penny smiling at her again in that way only Penny had ever smiled.

"Ruby!" Penny called out, stepping forward.

"Penny," Ruby replied breathlessly. "It's… It's really you! I knew it was… I knew they said. But. But…"

Before she could bumble through an even less acceptable reply, Penny was on her, pulling her into the largest of hugs and squeezing so tightly with that monstrous strength only Penny could have. But she wasn't the only one hugging for long. Because the moment Ruby pulled her arms free, she wrapped them around Penny as well and squeezed Penny as tightly as her human body could.

"I was so worried when it was taking so long to find you!" Penny exclaimed. "I wanted you to be the first one to know besides my father and James. It was super important that I got to see you again first because… You were the first person I thought of when I woke up."

Ruby had a thousand things she could thing to say to that. There were probably a hundred more that were more appropriate, but none of them came out as she uncharacteristically crumbled against Penny and hung onto her for dear life. "I wasn't ready to lose you forever," Ruby managed to get out instead. "You're so pure, Penny. You're so good. And I never… I never wanted to believe that you could love someone so much and them be gone. But you were. You were the first to go and…"

"Oh, Ruby, I'm so sorry," Penny answered, letting go of Ruby enough to brush hair from her eyes and tears from her cheeks. "I was damaged and offline long enough that it took a lot of creative innovations from my father to recover my exact memories and data. I know that it sounds like I'm dismissing how you felt, but it's not… I could have been in perfect working order a year ago. But I kept them working on me."

Sniffing, Ruby looked into Penny's face, confused. "W-what? Why would you do that?"

"Because my memories and personality weren't complete yet, and I needed to remember _everything_ from before," Penny explained, smiling at Ruby. "Because all I could remember from before was you, and I knew that, no matter how long or hard it was for me to remember you, I wanted to. Because remembering how special you were and how much love you made me feel for the first time, I knew it was all worth it. Just for you."

At that, Ruby broke down into tears and just stepped forward to brace herself against the matured Penny's body, feeling the hum of life across all her parts. And letting Penny wrap her arms around once again.

This was the great love they had been missing, but Ruby was more than ready to start making up for lost time.


End file.
